drink the Kool-Aid

present singular third person drinks the Kool-Aid · participle present drinking the Kool-Aid · past drank the Kool-Aid · participle past drunk the Kool-Aid · alternative drink the Kool Aid

1. UScolloquialTo come under the influence of a leader, organization, or movement to the point of believing uncritically in an espoused idea or ideology.

   "Then we better not drink the Kool-Aid. Have you been drinking the Kool-Aid, Robert?"

   2008, James Howard Kunstler, World Made by Hand

   4 more examples

   Outside the Convention Center, meanwhile, protesters on either side of police barricades waved signs, chanted, sang songs and heckled people walking inside to attend the fundraiser. Signs included "Limp Wrists Make Strong Fists," "I'd Rather Be Dead Than Born Again" and "Abort the Moral Majority." One of the more original chants was "Don't drink the Kool-Aid!"

   1982 April 24, Claude Peck, “Demo Greets Falwell During Visit to Minneapolis”, in Gay Community News, page 3

   Netscape, while willing to drink the open source Kool Aid, realized there were other important issues in the commercial sector.

   1999, Robert Young, Wendy Goldman Rohm, Under the Radar: How Red Hat Changed the Software Business

   […] essentially three options to choose from when you're confronted with the liberal hooey. The options are: 1. You can drink the campus Kool Aid […]

   2007, Doug Giles, A Time to Clash: Papers from a Provocative Pastor

   They "drink the Kool-Aid", as Lampley terms it, meaning that they buy into the Olympic experience.

   2008, Andrew C Billings, Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television